The genius of Steve Bell

Steve Bell is undoubtedly the finest cartoonist working for the Guardian/Observer group. The Guardian has indulged him as he learned to draw and matured as an artist and for this one is truly grateful. His work seems to fit best with the  tradition of clear, hardhitting imagery. I would hazard a guess that the improvement in Martin Rowson's work owes something to Bell's influence.

Today's cartoon is not one of his best. 

It is a parody of Holman Hunt's  The Scapegoat.

 It shows Speaker Martin as the latest outcast, stumbling in his robes and adjacent to the head of our lamentable Prime Minister. There is the traditional, "apologies to...",  inscribed at the side. 

Cartoonists probably don't do their best work when there is an "apologies to..."situation. They are taking someone else's symbolism and bending it to their own theme and there is an inevitable collision between the original symbolism and the adaptation-which can of course be interesting in itself. The suggestion here is that the Speaker is literally a scapegoat and indeed you could make out a case for this. How many of those turning on him are without sin? His performance yesterday was indeed pathetic. And who would want the support of Sir Stuart Bell?  

When I say that Martin Rowson's work has improved recently I mean to say that it is often clearer and more direct than it used to be. But there is still too much of the more complicated symbolism and lurid, heavy handed clumsiness. He isn't very good with likenesses either.

Brinkburn Priory

It was thirty years ago that we first visited Brinkburn, just after it was opened after being taken into the care of English Heritage. As a building it is worth a visit: it is also enjoyable because of its secluded site. You approach it down a gently sloping track which yesterday abounded in primroses and speedwell. You are lead down into the valley where the Coquet runs around the site. Brinkburn is also worth a visit because of its mature trees, many grow high on the steep banks on the opposite bank of the river. In winter this situation would have reduced the already  small amount of sunlight available.

What do you see when you get there?  You see the 12th century Priory and the much later house partly built from monastic outbuildings and sited over the ranges between the church and the river. The house has a large extension by Dobson. You can enter  and see the dilapidation .

The church itself is empty of most of the usual church furniture and this helps to emphasize the severity of the building.The north door is well worth a look for its late Norman details. Perhaps the most interesting object inside the church is the tombstone of Prior William who died in 1484. I did not photograph inside the church as a small choir were practicing there.

The weather was extraordinary and this would be an excellent  spot for a picnic or a  spot for children to play. I am not surprised that someone thought of holding a music festival here. Artists wishing to redo the Turner view would definitely have a problem due to the growth of trees since his time and difficulty in getting to his viewpoint.

Old Libraries and New

In June of this year there opens the new City Library of Newcastle. This is the third City Library in living memory. Any literate Novocastrian over the age of about 55 can remember the Victorian library which stood on the same site. Then came Basil Spence's version from the late 1960s. When that   building had outlived its usefulness (said who?), a  new one was designed by Ryder and built by Kajima . Thus was lost the opportunity to  commission a noteworthy  building demonstrating civic pride. It would surely have been possible to find an architectural firm which could have made the statement without making it overblown or turning the project into an "ideas store" .  

 The aesthetic nullity of the new library is unbelievable. It contrasts unfavourably with the more humble suburban library at Jesmond which was opened in 1963. This one has a circular book/reading room and was designed by Harry Faulkner Brown and Partners.It fits comfortably into a small corner site and is reasonably well lit. The only disadvantage is that (if I remember rightly) it does not have a public lavatory).

 Libraries are in the news at the moment,there are the planned closures of several of them in the Wirral and now-according to "The Guardian" there is the suggestion that piped music should be supplied. The mind boggles but boggle it must. One recent proposal was that booksellers should choose what goes onto library shelves. Judging from the state of my own local branch that may already be happening. 

Malcolm Fraser in Berwick

Yesterday; wandering back from a visit to Holy Trinity in Berwick with my friend David we came across an interesting new office development. A photographic exhibition was being shown inside so this gave us the chance to make a visit. It turned out that the building was more interesting than the photographs and we were glad to look around. This building-which has quality written all over  it, is the work of the Malcolm Fraser practice which has produced some fine work in Edinburgh; the Scottish Poetry Centre being perhaps the best known. So there are now two worthwhile recent buildings in Northumberland: this office development and the new observatory at Kielder. Both feature wood in their construction or cladding. Newcastle has nothing recent to offer of similar quality. The new City Library appears to be a monument to banality and have even less going for it than the dreadful housing  on the Quayside. I do not think Newcastle has had a building of real quality since MEA House by Ryder and Yates.

Unfortunately the Berwick building, which has offices to rent by the month, was almost totally unoccupied: another sign of the times. You can access the  Berwick Workspace from the alley beside the Berwick Advertiser building and also from Walkergate.   

Calligraphy by Li Yuan-Chia

Wei wu wei; act without acting is a Daoist aphorism here written by the Chinese artist Li Yuan-Chia. I never saw him practicing his calligraphy but I do know that he did not use the traditional ink stick and stone. He used instead a large bottle of indian ink as purchased from Thurnam's in Carlisle. Paper for practice was provided by old newspapers which were then used to light his stove.

Whether this frugality would be classed as a Daoist characteristic I do not know. One presumes that would be the case; showing off doesn't fit with the image of  self sufficiency and frugality such as Li exemplified.

And frugal he certainly was: a visitor, calling by arrangement on a winter evening might find the house in darkness. But he answered the door pointing out that one did not need light to think by. Li did not usually go far from home but sometimes went out on his scooter-with a kind of home-made apron fixed around his legs to protect himself from the breeze.  

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